Back in May of this year we reported on the imminent expansion of Android TV apps promised by Google, including an app for HBO GO. The timeline for its release was originally "sometime this summer". Looking out my window at the sodden mess of wet, decaying leaves plastered to my driveway here in Seattle, I think it's safe to say they missed that deadline. Oh well, I guess late is better than never.

HBO Now subscribers have had access to an Android TV app since the beginning of the month, so it's nice to see the far more popular HBO GO app finally catch up.

Android TV is a thing these days, but Google TV is dead as a door nail. Taking this into account, Amazon has decided to stop supporting Instant Video streaming to Google TV devices. The service will stop working on September 14th, at which point any remaining users of Google TV will have an excuse to stop using it.

When Android TV launched, it did so to an attitude that, at best, could be described as lukewarm. Google has attempted to corner the living room for years now, and its most successful attempt - the Chromecast - has essentially undercut Google's own more ambitious TV products.

Google TV never really had a chance - it was slow, the hardware was never particularly powerful, and the remotes were a nightmare. Google eventually let GTV die by slowly letting it fade into uselessness piece by piece.

Chromecast actually launched before Google TV was really "dead" in any official sense, and its success was immediate.

I'm sorry, Logitech Revue fans: at this point it's impossible to deny that Google TV is irrelevant. That being the case, the folks at GTV Hacker, who have provided us with many a tool and exploit for Google-branded set-top boxes and other hardware, have decided to say goodbye to their old and somewhat targeted moniker. GTV Hacker is now Exploitee.rs... because really good URLs are basically hard to find. (It's a play on "exploiters.")

The official blog post announcing the change points out that the team has released exploits for over 40 devices in four years, only 1/3rd of which have actually been for Google TV.

Okay, so Google TV didn't work out exactly as Google probably hoped it would. While not technically dead, Google TV is at least on life support while Google pushes the $35 Chromecast dongle. If you still want to give Google TV a shot, Groupon is offering an Asus Cube for less (after rebate) than the cost of a Chromecast.

Last month YouTube for Google TV vanished from the Play Store like a vampire slain by Lincoln himself, quietly fading from public view, seen only by those who had previously downloaded it and already knew of its existence. But like the immortal being that it is, YouTube has risen back from the dead. Not only that, it's stronger, having now received a relatively minor update to version 1.7.5.

In a move that few would have predicted, YouTube for Google TV seems to have been removed from the Play Store. People who have downloaded it previously can still see its entry, but beyond that, it's as good as dead. Further, there appears to be no alternative app to replace it. That doesn't mean there won't be, though. It's possible that the primary YouTube app could be updated with Google TV support in the future, but without a confirmation from Google, all we can do is speculate at this point.

Historically speaking, the app was never updated all that frequently and the last update occurred almost nine months ago.

If you haven't heard, Google makes a ton of Android apps. It can be a real hassle to keep up with them all, as the company is occasionally prone to updating a handful of them at once. So today we're lumping together new versions of My Tracks, Google Fiber, Google TV Search, Google Shopping Express, and Voice Search for Google TV all in one post. Links and changelogs for all five apps are available below.

My Tracks

My Tracks lets you see where you've been, how you got there, and how long the journey took you. Now it can track your calories too.

Updates don't alway meet their deadlines, and that's fine. The Android 4.2.2 Google TV update that LG promised back in May may be late, but it's here, at least for some models. This is big news for people who have invested in Google's television offering, as it bumps the platform up from a rather old Android 3.2 Honeycomb base.

Unfortunately, some things are lost in transition. While updated Google TVs will have better mobile app compatibility thanks to Android NDK support, the Chrome browser has changed from the PC to the Android version, meaning there's no Flash support. There's no Crackle, no Hulu, and no watchESPN.

Netflix customers now all have the option to stream their favorite television shows and movies in the highest quality bit rate that the company offers. HD? No, Super HD. It's 1080p, but with less compression. Netflix first rolled out this higher quality offering way back in January, but they only worked with ISPs with whom they have a direct connection. Now they're ready to stream Super HD to everyone. They're also hoping more ISPs will adopt Netflix Open Connect, their video content delivery network that tries to reduce internet congestion by storing content on servers as close to users as possible.